NAVI: Novel authentication with visual information

Text-based passwords, despite their well-known drawbacks, remain the dominant user authentication scheme implemented. Graphical password systems, based on visual information such as the recognition of photographs and / or pictures, have emerged as a promising alternative to the aggregate reliance on text passwords. Nevertheless, despite the advantages offered they have not been widely used in practice since many open issues need to be resolved. In this paper we propose a novel graphical password scheme, NAVI, where the credentials of the user are his username and a password formulated by drawing a route on a predefined map. We analyze the strength of the password generated by this scheme and present a prototype implementation in order to illustrate the feasibility of our proposal. Finally, we discuss NAVI’s security features and compare it with existing graphical password schemes as well as text-based passwords in terms of key security features, such aspassword keyspace, dictionary attacks and guessing attacks. The proposed scheme appears to have the same or better performance in the majority of the security features examined

Usability and Trust in Information Systems

The need for people to protect themselves and their assets is as old as humankind. People's physical safety and their possessions have always been at risk from deliberate attack or accidental damage. The advance of information technology means that many individuals, as well as corporations, have an additional range of physical (equipment) and electronic (data) assets that are at risk. Furthermore, the increased number and types of interactions in cyberspace has enabled new forms of attack on people and their possessions. Consider grooming of minors in chat-rooms, or Nigerian email cons: minors were targeted by paedophiles before the creation of chat-rooms, and Nigerian criminals sent the same letters by physical mail or fax before there was email. But the technology has decreased the cost of many types of attacks, or the degree of risk for the attackers. At the same time, cyberspace is still new to many people, which means they do not understand risks, or recognise the signs of an attack, as readily as they might in the physical world. The IT industry has developed a plethora of security mechanisms, which could be used to mitigate risks or make attacks significantly more difficult. Currently, many people are either not aware of these mechanisms, or are unable or unwilling or to use them. Security experts have taken to portraying people as "the weakest link" in their efforts to deploy effective security [e.g. Schneier, 2000]. However, recent research has revealed at least some of the problem may be that security mechanisms are hard to use, or be ineffective. The review summarises current research on the usability of security mechanisms, and discusses options for increasing their usability and effectiveness

Phishing – the threat of internet banking

The attractiveness of Internet banking, the dynamics and the integration with e-business is still growing. The current use of electronic banking is defined by cyberspace and abused in the form of cyber terrorism as well. Therefore it is in the interest of all banks to focus on minimizing the real attacks. This article analyzes and compares the current possibilities against so-called phishing and identifies the area of the safe use of Internet banking in terms of the current potential threats in this area

Privacy and Usability of Image and Text Based Challenge Questions Authentication in Online Examination

In many online examinations, physical invigilation is often replaced with traditional authentication approaches for student identification. Secure and usable authentication approaches are important for high stake online examinations. A Profile Based Authentication Framework (PBAF) was developed and implemented in a real online learning course embedded with summative online examination. Based on users’ experience of using the PBAF in an online course, online questionnaires were used to collect participants' feedback on effectiveness, layout and appearance, user satisfaction, distraction and privacy concerns. Based on overall findings of the quantitative analysis, there was a positive feedback on the use of a hybrid approach utilizing image and text based challenge questions for better usability. However, the number of questions presented during learning and examination processes were reported to be too many and caused distraction. Participants expressed a degree of concern on sharing personal and academic information with little or no privacy concern on using favorite question

The Serums Tool-Chain:Ensuring Security and Privacy of Medical Data in Smart Patient-Centric Healthcare Systems

Digital technology is permeating all aspects of human society and life. This leads to humans becoming highly dependent on digital devices, including upon digital: assistance, intelligence, and decisions. A major concern of this digital dependence is the lack of human oversight or intervention in many of the ways humans use this technology. This dependence and reliance on digital technology raises concerns in how humans trust such systems, and how to ensure digital technology behaves appropriately. This works considers recent developments and projects that combine digital technology and artificial intelligence with human society. The focus is on critical scenarios where failure of digital technology can lead to significant harm or even death. We explore how to build trust for users of digital technology in such scenarios and considering many different challenges for digital technology. The approaches applied and proposed here address user trust along many dimensions and aim to build collaborative and empowering use of digital technologies in critical aspects of human society